America West Express

A traveler boards an America West Express CRJ-200 regional jet operated by Mesa Airlines at the Las Vegas airport.

America West Express started as a regional carrier in association with America West Airlines with a hub at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. The name "America West Express" was taken from the old America West Airlines cargo service which had begun in 1985. America West initially operated de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprop aircraft with its own flight crews; however, on November 30, 1992, America West signed a codeshare agreement with Mesa Airlines to operate America West Airlines' regional and commuter services as America West Express.

In the mid-1990s, with the opening of the America West Airlines hub at Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, America West Airlines used Chautauqua Airlines to provide Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet service to feed the hub. When the Columbus hub was shut down, the Chautauqua Airlines code share was discontinued, leaving Mesa as the sole operator of AW Express services.

In 2003, America West greatly increased the size of their express operation by starting new routes operated by regional jets from its hub at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2006 America West Express was branded as US Airways Express following the merger of America West with US Airways.

An America West Express CRJ-200LR on a murky Los Angeles morning.

Mesa Airlines also previously operated America West Express flights with 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900D, 37-passenger De Havilland Canada Dash 8-200 and 30-passenger Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprop aircraft.[2]

Chautauqua Airlines operated Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets on its America West Express flights.[3]

Desert Sun Airlines a Mesa Air Group subsidiary, also operated two Fokker 70 jet aircraft on behalf of America West Express configured with 78 seats.[4]

America West Express operated all of its fleet in a single coach class configuration. At one time, the CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s did offer dual class service with separate first and coach class cabins. However, this was dropped when customers were not willing to pay extra for limited First class amenities on these short flights. Increasing the number of coach seats resulted in increased revenue.

Since these were code share flights, the America West Airlines codes were used for customer purposes. HPX indicates America West Express flights. However, the flights were actually operated under the Mesa Airlines codes.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to America West Express.

• America West Airlines website
• Mesa Airlines website